Customer Reviews

Hotter Than Hell (hell On Earth Book 3)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Courtesy of CK2S Kwips and Kritiques

Fans of Jackie Kessler's Hell on Earth series who love that sexy incubus Daunuan are in for a treat now that he gets his own story.

Daun loves his job as an incubus. Who can resist the chance to have earth shattering sex all the time and steal a few souls for Hell while you're at it? He's happy exactly where he is and has no aspirations to rise up in the demon food chain. However, now Pan, King of Lust has decided he wants Daun at his right hand and he won't take no for an answer. The only hitch? Daun has to prove his ability by seducing a woman of purest soul, destined for Heaven, into lust, damning her forever. Sounds easy, right?

Unfortunately for Daun, this assignment proves his greatest challenge. When he meets Virginia Reed, she is nothing like he expected. There could not be a more perfect person on Earth than Virginia and soon Daun finds he's none too eager to finish the job. Then there's the fact that Virginia looks an awful lot like former succubus, now human Jezebel, "Jesse" whom Daun could never resist.

Things get complicated even more when every single lesser demon minion from the Underworld has shown up on Earth, bound and determined to kill Daun. Trying to save his own hide, and Virginia's, becomes a priority for Daun. Especially when... could it be possible Daun is falling in love? Of course not! After all, demons don't know the meaning of love. Or do they?

I've loved the Hell on Earth series since the first book, Hell's Belles, was released and I am thrilled to see the story continuing. As much as I love Jesse's character, Daun has fascinated me since his first appearance so I was especially excited to see him playing the starring role in Hotter than Hell. I enjoyed seeing him meet his match in the beautiful, inside and out, Virginia. None of the usual rules apply and I adored the humor in seeing Daun realize the only way to attract her eye was by making himself *gasp* ordinary. As he discovers who Virginia really is, we see just how much Daun has changed from the early days, represented through a series of flashbacks to different eras.

The addition of the mystery as to who is trying to destroy Daun adds to the tension. He has to protect himself and Virginia from the danger if he ever hopes to finish his job. We also get to see a little more about Virginia through the battle scenes, discovering just how brave and big hearted she really is. We also get to visit with some old and new friends. One of my favorites is Angel the former angel, now a succubus. The interaction between Daun and Angel adds another level to the story. I hope Angel will put in more appearances and maybe even get her own story someday.

One thing to keep in mind about Hotter than Hell is that it's difficult to classify. While it has a strong romance between Daun and Virginia, it is very non-traditional and therefore I can't really call it a paranormal romance. This is further shown through the conclusion to their tale. It's not at all what I expected but suits the characters perfectly. It also leaves a few openings for further adventures in the life of Daun.

Jackie Kessler manages to pack enough heat into her books that they challenge the Lake of Fire for intensity. After all, in a series about incubi and succubae, you just now the sexual quota is through the roof! What's especially nice is exploring the romantic relationship between Virginia and Daun. The forced abstinence on Daun's part sends the tension through the roof. It's all about the seduction and not the follow-through, since actually engaging in sex is what will kill Virginia. Hotter than Hell is sexy, sassy, edgy, and undeniable bold, clinching Jackie Kessler's position as a true rising star of the genre.

© Kelley A. Hartsell, August 2008. All rights reserved.

This book hit my "just ok" radar, not the: good (4 stars) or great (5 stars). Don Juan just didn't do it for me, he wasn't very likeable, also the romance was very much lacking in this book. Jezabel in the previous books was great as was the romance.

This is so far my favorite in Jackie Kessler's Hell on Earth series! She provides a fresh new perspective by telling this story from Daun's point of view. Very interesting world building and a great way to look at Demons (They're just doing thier jobs like everyone else, give'em a break already!) Can't wait for the next one!

I have really enjoyed Duan in this series, I found him funny and the "jerk" we can all love to hate. The story was certainly a different take on the "romance." I really liked the ending, it was different, but leaves it open for him to appear in future books. This is the first series of this genre I've read and I can say I haven't been disappointed but there was something missing and didn't make it a page turner like Jezzie's story did.

Duanuan loves being a demon of lust. Great benefits, all the sex he could ever want. He had no ambitions of moving up.
Then one day, Pan, the King of Lust, tells Duan that he wants Duan to be the new Prince of Lust. How could he refuse? Only catch is that he has to seduce and damn a good soul meant for Heaven. As icing on the cake the meatpie that Pan has picked is the spitting image of Jezebel, the sexy seductress that left hell, and Duan for Earth and love. UGH!
Duan thinks that the seduction will be a quick and easy job, after all, he's been seducing women for thousands of years. What he doesn't expect is to fall in love with the beautiful, charming, and fragile Virginia.
As an added difficulty, all of hells elite is coming after him. Someone from hell has put a bounty on his head. If quitting this assignment was an option Duan would pick it, but the only out is his death.
How will he ever pull this one off in time???

I really liked this book. I think Duan is such a fun character and Virginia was easy to fall in love with. Plus, there was flashes of the sexy Jesse, who has kept us captivated for the last 2 books.
With a very unexpected ending this book was a great read. 4 stars

I don't generally read books with a male prespective, but I took a chance and won, big time! Duan is hot, smart, and deliciously conflicted. With an ending that I never saw coming, this book is a definate must read of the series, and stands alone too!

This is my favorite in the Hell on Earth series. It's not all hearts and flowers but has a nice mischievous edge to it. Daun gets the lead and he is so hot! Jezzie appears a couple times but this book was all about Daun. Daun's world gets shaken-up when the King of Lust gives him an impossible assignment. The stakes are high and failure is not an option. He has to convince someone slated for heaven to commit a sin. I loved how Jackie included some alternative-history. It gave the book a bit of depth. This book is not about guy gets the girl in the end. The ending is totally unpredictable but I loved it. I really hope we see more of Daun in the near future.

Jackie Kessler continues her Hell on Earth series with this latest installment--only this time, she's switched things up. The first two books in the series were told from the point of view of runaway-succubus Jezebel. This third book is narrated by Daun, the devilishly sexy incubus we've met earlier in the series.

Daun's on a mission to seduce a pure-souled woman, and things get complicated both when she proves resistant and when he realizes he's falling for her. Like in her other books, Kessler's prose is clean and spot-on--and infused with that wicked humor that makes her such a good writer. What's particularly remarkable in this book is how well she writes a first person male voice. Cross-gender writing can be a disaster sometimes, but Kessler rocks it and makes it convincing--even in the sex scenes, which are quite possibly even hotter than in previous books!

If you like urban fantasy and paranormal romance, you want to read this. Liking sex and humor wouldn't hurt either.

Jackie Kessler writes really well, and I mean REALLY well. There's something about the way that she puts together a story that makes it un-putdownable, even if the central character is hardly appealing. Certainly Daunuan, Prince of Lust, whose job is to seduce people and send their souls to the Pit, isn't exactly someone you'd want to take home to your mother. We met Daunuan in Kessler's previous books and it was rather hard to decide whether he was likeable or not in those; in this story we follow Daunuan as he undertakes a challenge to prove he's worth of the position of second in command to King Pan - he has to seduce a soul destined for heaven and without using any trickery.

Of course Pan has chosen a rather difficult subject for Daunuan's test - Virginia Reed is a shell of a woman, someone whose life appears over, but who is full of innate goodness. She also looks startlingly similar to Daun's lost succubus friend, Jezebel, heroine of the previous books and someone whom Daun can't quite get over. But Daun's challenge might be harder than he thinks - as he is trying to get on with his seduction he keeps finding various infernal creatures are trying to bump him off; that, and that Virginia might be introducing him to that worst of four-letter-words, love.

What makes this book is Kessler's excellent prose, her witty descriptions, great characters and the overall ambiguity between the hero and their infernal purposes. In some ways this book is a departure from the norm in that the ending isn't the traditional Happy Ever After that one might expect; however it's still a really enjoyable read and the world in which Kessler sets these stories is amusing in a slightly dark way.

Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book © Helen Hancox 2008

Confession time: as a former theology student, paranormal romance novels featuring sexy demons (incubi and succubae) are a major league guilty pleasure for me, and this third installment of Jackie Kessler's "Hell on Earth" series is a prime example, like a dive into a bathtub-sized hot fudge sundae or getting a massage from a barely-dressed Jude Law-lookalike.

Daunaun (pronounced something like -- yep! -- don-wan), a lord of Lust, has a promotion to Prince of Lust pending, if he can succeed in seducing and claiming the soul of Virginia, a lonely woman with a pure heart. And all the while, he must dodge the demons sent to try his mettle at every step of the way. But his relationship with Virginia takes an unexpected turn and he finds himself faced with confrontations and decisions that will change him and Virginia forever and rock hell to its very core...

I love the intricate details of this story, from the chilling yet fascinating horrors of hell and its denizens, to the by-contrast simple, refreshingly ordinary things of Virginia's life. And I especially love how Ms. Kessler made the heroine a full-figured thirty-something instead of the usual willowy twenty-somethings you see as the female leads in romance novels. The climax and ending are definately much darker than you'd normally find in books like this, but to end it differently, with the kind of happy ending found in many other books, would have cheapened the story and the characters. It's a bittersweet ending, but it ended the way it needed to end, with the characters where they need -- and want -- to be...